My first lens back in 1977 was a Canon FD 135mm F2.5 and now I
have acquired and been using the EF 135mm F2 L USM. It is such a
joy to use on a 5D body--relatively light with good reach and low
light capability.

Yesterday I shot young dancers rehearsing on stage of the city
auditorium in preparation for their upcoming performance in a few
days. I used two lenses: EF 85mm F1.2L and EF 135mm F2L, both
chosen for their natural perspective and large aperture (low light
capability and ability to isolate subject from background). These
images needed to be sent on to the client and it was only afterward
that I could take the time to digest the images in detail and enjoy
that tremendous sense of satisfaction in capturing those kids
being artists and really enjoying themselves. Part of the credit
goes to reliable, excellent optics. The equipment doesn't get in
my way of making images... and it never fails me.

It always amazes me how I become "invisible"--the dancers quit
paying attention to me and concentrate on what they are doing. It
is truly a privilege for me to work is such environments.

Before purchasing a EF 300mm F2.8L IS USM I used its predecessor
in the FD mount. I've been using this lens in its EF mount for a
year and a half. This lens never disappoints me. On occasion I
will handhold this lens on a 5D body, but I find it is most
convenient to use with gimbaled set up like a Wimberley Sidekick
with a RRS BH-55 ball head on a Gitzo series 3 or 4 tripod.

The EF 70-200mm F2.8L IS (on the EOS 5D) gives me very sharp
detailed imagery at full aperture. However, when using the image
stabilization (IS), it is easy to make the mistake of not waiting
for the gyros to stabilize (about one second) resulting in some
"artistic blurs". As with any lens, one needs to learn what it
can and can't do. The IS allows me to work in many lower light
circumstances making this a really outstanding lens.

After giving up on e-film to make it into the market place, I
jumped directly from Canon F-1n bodies and FD lenses to the full
frame EOS 5D dSLR with EF lenses and haven't looked back. After
six months I've learned my new tools well.

Yes, I miss a split image and micro prism collar in the view
finder when manually focusing, and I thought I would miss the
Speed Finder FN from the old bodies, but the so far so good.

Wide-angle lenses are the hardest to use effectively and one can't
expect lenses like EF 16-35mm F2.8 L USM and EF 24-70mm F2.8 L USM
to perform with the same edge to edge sharpness as quality telephoto
lenses at maximum aperture. Wide-angle lenses have greater chromatic
aberration and distortion. Having acknowledged that, Canon has done
a remarkable job in the design of their fast wide angle zoom lenses.

Hard to imagine now, but I was really disappointed when bought my
first wide-angle lens, Canon's FD 24mm F2.8 many years ago. I grew
to love and use that 24mm lens effectively. Having switched to full
frame dSLR, I chose to go with the EF 16-35mm F2.8 L USM and
EF 24-70mm F2.8 L USM. These are excellent lenses and were good
choices for me.

Wide-angle lenses are the hardest to use effectively and one can't
expect lenses like EF 16-35mm F2.8 L USM and EF 24-70mm F2.8 L USM
to perform with the same edge to edge sharpness as quality telephoto
lenses at maximum aperture. Wide-angle lenses have greater chromatic
aberration and distortion. Having acknowledged that, Canon has done
a remarkable job in the design of their fast wide angle zoom lenses.

Hard to imagine now, but I was really disappointed when bought my
first wide-angle lens, Canon's FD 24mm F2.8 many years ago. I grew
to love and use that 24mm lens effectively. Having switched to full
frame dSLR, I chose to go with the EF 16-35mm F2.8 L USM and
EF 24-70mm F2.8 L USM. These are excellent lenses and were good
choices for me.

The TS-E 90mm F2.8 is a wonderful lens, exhibiting the
performance of Canon's "L" series lenses without requiring
UD glass or aspherical lenses. Having some of the tilt and
shift movements of large format view cameras, makes this
a very capable lens, in deed.

Although there are good arguments for not including AF
capability, I would have certainly made use of it. On a
camera body such as the EOS 5D, one can see the plane of
focus when tilting and this is often confirmed by the
pattern of AF points lit up in the viewfinder.

Almost as graceful as handholding EF 85mm F1.2L on an EOS 5D.
Not only applicable for wild life, but this lens allows me to
capture the emotion and artistry of musicians at rehreasal (and
performance) in the concert hall. The lens is outstanding for
creating artistic compositions in nature--trees, leaves,
critters and backgrounds that are uniquely available with
quality long lenses.

I would have liked manual focus control while in AF mode
as in many of Canon's other lenses.

Over the years I've done a lot of low light work using the this
lens in its FD mount version. More often than not, shooting onto
ISO 3200 film at F1.2, handholding with shutter speed as long as
1/15 second, and then sometimes a stop or two underexposed,
the result have been fantastic.

During the last few months I've switched from my film based
photography using Canon FD lenses to full frame dSLR and
Canon EF lenses. My first challege was documenting activites
of madrigal dinners (set in the 1600s) in January with little
more than candles as the light source.

The new camera, designed to take advantage of auto focusing
(AF) in the lenses, lacks a split image and micro prism collar
on the focusing screen--tools I came to rely on in very low
light situations in the past... so the first night's images often
showed my lack of precise focus.

The second night, I let the camera do its thing--evaluating
multiple focus points and choosing to focus on the "closest"
point(s) near the central third of the image area... The results
where much better--in fact, some awesome.

As has been the case over the years with the older FD version,
the EF 85mm F1.2 L USM serves me well. If I was restricted to
just one lens, this would likely be it.